Daily Yellowstone journal., 1887-02-18
THE STORY OF AN AVALANCHE.


~. DssH
You may have, at some time or other,
met q ma whom you wanted to Kick on
sight. just the min 10 YOU got sight on
him you felt that you could never be
supremely happy again u less you could
bump his anatomy with your cali
o K \.
There was Just such a man with US ut
Chicago Junction, where five or six
passengers had To wat for W hours
Tor the rain on the b. and q. road.
II was n wretcheI r, ON, cold wealth
or, aud the lire in the stove wouldn't
have warmed The legs o. a ita.
This man whom We all wanted TO kick
on sight had a feminine voice. lie was
understood, conceited in 81 eech and
looks, and he played hog on tue stove.
The man who is iml atiently waiting
for u train at a junction should never
whistle. He wh.slled.
A half-frozen AM ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
cd man should lever ns. He ang.
Theref re the rest Of US began TO hate
him. We hoped there was a mortgage on
his home, n that the man who held il
would Ioreclose. We hoped he would
reach home 10 find that his wife had
eloped. We would have been happy . o
learn that al his children were down
with the measles.
"Gentlemen, said the man, having
not the least suspicious Of our feelings
toward him, " last year at this time
Just a year ago TO-DAY i was the victim
oil an adventure such as lew PEOPLE have
ever encountered and lived to relate.
~ was in Silver Gulch, Colorado. A
o,NnA Az N,n. IN 1Nc and a,r.aIf
occupied a cabin about half wa, up a
long slope reached by a private trail. II
had been showing Tor ten days, and l
guess there were ten feet oil IL on the
slope above US. II We had not kept
clearing away around our cabin the
building would have been buried out Of
sight"
He paused here, but no questions were
asked, and he continued:
Just about noon q year ago to-day,
while We were eating uInner. there came
. trembling Of the ground, an awful
crash, and an avalanche stared ut the
top of the mountain AID came sweeping
down upon us.
Before you could count ten our cabin
was struck, smashed TO kindlings, and
All and / wgre being carried along by
the resistless terror. When We Lnally
stopped we We're buried at the foot Of a
Iedse under snow twenty feet deep.
Mropcb snme miraculous i~nterposition
uf prpyid,nce / escaped all injury, but
o All rad an arm broken.
while our position was a bad one,
We did not give up AL hope. ! crowded
the snow back until We had room to
move, and then discovered 1t might be
possible TO scale the irregular c ifs and
make my way out. In case | succeeded
j was 10 return and rescue my partner.
"WeiI. after the most herculean
efforts / pushed 10 the top Of the drift,
and before night | reached Parsons City
and spread the story.
IL wanted q rope and three or four
men. and was very anxious to return at
once, but the men prevailed upon me 70
wait until next day.
Then when we arrived at the spot,
we saw that q second avalanche had &C.
Cured, and that poor All must be buried
under at least iifty feet of snow"
And you didn't get him outY" asked
the MAJ with u red necktie and iur on
his overcoat.
"No, sir"
"And lie is IN Ter there YETI
II expect he Is. Tn heap OF snow
didn't settle much last summer"
Did you put up any sort Of grave
ston for him around there"
mo. sir
"write any obituary notice for the
papers;
mo"
TRY to find any Of his relativesf"
mo; / don't think he had any,"
Ell do ! think lie ha a brother
about my size! | don't blame you so
much abyut the arala che, b I It's GER
tain you didn't use ALI on the SOU re-"
The big man 10 g up aud removed his
overcoat, and there was an expression
on his face which caused the little man
TO inquire:
Say. what are you going to dor"
"Avenge Air.
"Heayehs but I didn't do anything
10 him -
did you put up a gravestone9"
"Why, no: but"
didn't put up a Gravestone for your
dead partner, ehf Come out herer'
Say, IL va a made-up 5 DRY! There
was no At-no a\alanche-no accident !
j was lying
ION, no, you wasn't. I'm Alfs
brother. Prepare yourself"
The little man appealed 10 the crowd,
but the big man took hun by tue collar,
drew him GU on the platform, and gave
him a lift which IdnJed him up Z o his
neck In "A drift.
Then the kicker resumed his overcoat
end said.
Poor All! But what Is our loss is
Doubt So his gain -
And for the next hour and a half the
little man was hidden away In a freight
ear ON the side track, and the chatter OF
his teeth seemed 10 beat time TO the hum
Of the telegraph wires.-tN. Y. Sun.